The Du Couteau
by Rinuko
Summary: A view into the daily life of the Du Couteau's protagonists : Talon, Katarina and Cassiopeia as well as a view into some past events.
1. Chapter 1 :Official Business

He threw the set of knives into the training dummy's chest, they made a set of holes when they hit and another set of holes as they came back. This was a thing he did as a daily training thing, it was a move that only a apprentice assassin could do, as learning the blade's movement and grace wasn't for everyone.

Talon was at home, in a room full of dummies in the perimeter and a table in the middle with all the sort of blades he could think of, it also had a big window on the top, so that the sunlight would go throught it from sunrise to sunset, it was a room Marcus Du Couteau himself made for his first-born, Katarina Du Couteau, and it was also the place where they first met, although the meeting itself wasn't the brightest, they forged a friendship as people born under the same roof as siblings.

Talon shook his head, he wanted to focus on what he was doing, no time to make any remarks on the past, this was the time he needed to sharpen himself, as not even himself didn't know what lied in front of him as an assassin. He heard a loud knock on the door just as he was about to throw a bunch of his knives.

"Come in." The moment after came a figure he knew better then almost everyone in Runeterra, she had long, red hair and an unmistakable scar on one of her green jewel eyes. Her face looked incredibly bored, sleepy and maybe even disappointed.

"Found anything in your travels, Miss Katarina ?" This was a question he already had repeated dozens of times, after the disappearance of Marcus Du Couteau, they have been taking interest in couple places around Valoran, but they barely ever found a clue, and whatever clue there was, it would lead to a dark corner, it was an enigma neither of them had resolved yet, and it sure wasn't coming any closer to an end.

"Spare me the talk, Talon, " With this, she left out a loud sigh, it was obvious she was getting tired of this search, but both know they shouldn't hold back until any concrete answers come by. "the documents me and Prince Jarvan IV Lightshield found in Demacia haven't served us a quarter of the effort." With this said, she sat on the table and looked around the room and at the top, it was already sunset, and she stared at it for a few minutes before turning back to Talon. "It's warm in here, where's Cassio ?"

"Cooking with one of the servants, it's an idea I had that would maybe keep her from constantly scaring them off." With this she turned, stood up and walked towards the kitchen, she opened the door as a lot of warm air came out of the kitchen and almost stunned Katarina. "Cassio, keep some of the food for later, me and Talon will be back soon enough." She closed the door and turned to Talon. " Get yourself fit, the High Command is having a reunion in an hour." He looked at himself before heading to his room. He was wearing little more then a dark red shirt and large gray pants, his hair was barely tied.

He came out of his room and walked towards the main hall, he was using his casual blue combo with a assassin styled hoodie and a sharp edged cape, his favourite. He met Katarina at the gate with her usual Noxian High Command look, the outfit itself gave her a sharper look to say the least, it was really fit for a high status Noxian. "Okay then, let's move."

They walked around Noxus at sunset, it was one of the few things likeable about the city itself, the colors of the buildings in the upper society of Noxus made a beautiful shining effect. It was a thing Talon himself appreciated, having grown in the lower status streets since a very young age.

They came across a fair, the both of them kept their eyes open, but Talon knew the place better then anyone in his home, this is the dirty treacherous pile of human scum that he dealt with everyday, this was his source of income, althought it was in a different matter, a popular one in Noxus one would say. Talon knew how to look into the shadows and see what other people were planning, it was something he grew with, both the ability to sneak up on people from the shadows and the ability to keep others from doing the same onto him.

With this, a bunch of people looked over at the duo, and while some made way for them, others cursed and gritted their teeth, the High Command were either feared or hated in the lower class society of Noxus, Katarina was even more hated then others of the Noxian high society, after the events in the League, in which she broke out fights between Noxians and Demacians with help of Garen Crownguard, the Leader of the Vanguard and the Might of Demacia, as well as the work she has developed with Prince Jarvan IV Lightshield of Demacia in order to help find Marcus du Couteau, some people had a deep hatred for Katarina, accusing her for treachery, they were but fools for her and Talon, people think being a member of the High Command in Noxus is easy have nothing more then a blade aiming for their tongues.

Talon looked around and saw a bunch of dirty men with poor armor and clothing draw their daggers and knives, signalling one another to attack the duo, with this, he patted Katarina on the shoulder, and as she turned slightly he whispered to her ear "I got your back on this one." With this, her eyes turned fierce, as if she had become the predator instead of the prey, and kept her hands next to her blades, just as this happened, a bunch of men lunged at the duo, Katarina, instantly flashed behind one of them, desorienting them, and instantly stabbed him in the throat and took out other two of them with a pair of throwing knives in the chest, meanwhile Talon disarmed one of them with the strongest steel the Du Couteau had to offer, stabbed the other in the chest headed and headed straight to the other one as Katarina had hit him with a knife in the face. The last one, whose arm had been hurt by Talon, was screaming of agony in the ground, and as Katarina approached him, Talon looked at him with a disgusted face then turned over to the crowd who was watching, surprised.

"Let this be a warning for those who dare oppose the Du Couteau !" With this, he turned over to Katarina and signalled her it was time to move, "Mere fools." The entire crowd made way for them to move, they looked scared, as they should be.

Surprisingly enough for Talon, the Du Couteau household wasn't exactly in the high society part of Noxus, despite being considered a part of the High Command and being in the upper status of Noxus, causing there to be many attempts of breakouts in the household, like the tragic one that had killed Katarina's and Cassipeia's mother, in which all of the guards who were supposed to guard the household were after this event executed along with the assassin who was found days after by Marcus.

Having finally reached the high society part of Noxus, located just in the middle of the city, the streets were far quieter and the buildings were much more decorated, were much taller and also had eletrical light inside them. This really showed the difference between living as a person of high status in Noxus and living as a poor person who can barely defend itself. After walking for almost an hour, the duo reached at the talest building in all of Noxus : the High Command, the look on the building was the most characteristic thing about the city-state, it was a mist of dark red, black and dark grey, truly showing the purpose of the building. As they got in, they met up with a bunch of well armed guards and some recognisable figures, such as the leader of the Crimson Elite and Zaun's ambassador of Noxus.

"We're here." Said Katarina, her face looked bored, these reunions were boring to her, but they were one of her priorities, even though she wasn't an official General, she had to keep her father's place as one, so she had to go to each of these reunions as a part of the High Command. They went throught a bunch of passages and rooms until they reached the place where the reunions of the High Command are made, the doors were tall, large and heavy and had official flags of Noxus attached to them, the heaviest of soldiers were guarding them, standing there like statues, the duo asked permition to come in and one of them opened the door for them.

They came in only to be met with the loud sound of Swain's bird, Beatrice, it's origins were never found or explained by anyone in the room and as Talon and Katarina looked around, they saw that most of the seats were taken by the corresponding general, Katarina took her seat that used to belong to her father's, she remenbered when she went by demand from Marcus to attend these boring reunions and either stayed next to Marcus on her feet or sat on his lap. Talon stayed right next to her and looked around, everyone was present with their most trusted guard and every single chair had been taken, even the Hand of Noxus, Darius, was right next to Swain, holding his position as if he was his sworn protector. There was only a chair empty, he looked at it for a pair of seconds before looking away._ "The loudmouth got what was coming for him."_ He thought, General Keiran Darkwill was but a fool with a mouth bigger then his blade who thought was worthy of being High General and challenged Jericho Swain himself to a duel, only to be put down by him and then having his head cut off by Darius himself.

The generals and Swain talked about official business with the League, although some of them weren't interested in it, this was something critical for Noxus, as the League's main target is to keep any more Rune Wars from happening, it's most important role was to keep Noxus from invading any place, since Demacia is allied to Piltover, Ionia and Bandle City, the League keeps tabs on all of these city-states, while also keeping wars from happening between Piltover and Zaun, as recent conflicts between Viktor of Zaun and Jayce of Piltover have the potential to awaken Noxus and Demacia, considering the fact that Noxus is allied to Zaun as some scientists like Singed, the Mad Chemist, aided them in the Ionian invasion.

Half an hour after, the Generals and their guards left the room, one by one, Katarina was almost about to yawn when she stood up, realizing it would an act of disrespect for the High Command, turned to Talon then left the room with him. They walked silently throught the High Command's corridors and left the building.

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_Author's Note_

And that is how the whole thing begins ! First fan-fic ever written so feel free to give any opinion that would help me become a better writter . Have a good day ! _OwO _


	2. Chapter 2 : Siblings

They were back home, it was already night and they were tired. The return trip wasn't as intense as the trip on the way to the High Command, the duo instead decided to run around town through the rooftops, it got more energy out of them, but took much less longer.

They headed straight for the dining room where Cassioepia was lying on the sofa, reading magazines to her taste.

"Took you long ! Was it one of those boring High Council reunions again ?" Cassiopeia knew they were there, but didn't even bother looking at them.

"High Command you mean." Talon said as he looked at the table to their right, there were two plates with a few eggs and some rice. They were both really hungry, neither of them even had an idea how hungry they were until they came home.

Katarina and Talon sat in front of one another and started eating the food without even looking at each other, one of the few things that could be heard was Cassiopeia's giggles of excitement, she really was digging through that magazine.

Katarina finished the plate in a few minutes, she stood up and stepped out of the room, she walked throught a few corridors and found some stairs, she climbed them with her usual grace and ended up on the roof.

It was an usual night in Noxus, some lights were still on and the fairs were slowly slipping out, as sometimes she could hear the screams coming from some of the merchants as a way to get attention from others. She sat on the corner with her hands wrapped in her knees, she looked up at the sky, it was a night in Valoran without clouds like any other : the stars were shining bright, and this time it was full moon, she looked at the stars and let her thoughts slip away.

"Worried about him?" Katarina got surprised for a second, but kept herself from moving an inch, all she did was look back to confirm it was Talon, then started looking up at the sky again.

"Kind of, it's the second time he's gone, I'm afraid this one is for good." Talon sat right next to her, he had laid the hoodie back and his hair was untied, it was incredibly messy she thought.

"You of all people should know Marcus Du Couteau wouldn't go down easily, Miss Katarina." He said as he also stared at the nightsky. Katarina sighed, and turned to Talon.

"You know what, Talon, stop calling me Miss already, I'm not the pretty defenseless lady my father told you to defend, neither are you a servant or a slave, you're like a brother to me, to us, Talon." She said this without a nervous or demanding tone but it still left Talon surprised, both were looking at each other in the eye. Talon was confused and looking for an answer that wouldn't offset the whole conversation. It had been almost 10 seconds that they were looking into one another's eyes.

"I'm sorry, I never thought about having you or Cassiopeia as my siblings, but considering we have been living under the same roof for 7 years... " He looked at the side for another dozen of seconds, then turned back to Katarina and took a deep breath "... I'm sorry Katarina, I've been living with you and your sister for all this time and I've never shown any gratitude for either of you, I request your apology. I want my relation with you and your sister not to be as if it were tied by blood, although we have been living as such for a long time."

"So ? It's the price you get to pay for the free stay, it's something me and Cassiopeia wanted to be for you, we aren't tied by blood but we can act as such. We are tied, Talon, it has been _seven years_, so please, it's a request coming from the both of us."

She was looking at him with a confident face while Talon was looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Ugh fine." He grunted out loud. Katarina laughed at the pathetic scene he was making but got a hold of herself for a moment.

"Oh well, you should go to sleep..." She turned and went straight for the stairs when she looked back. "...brother." Then head straight for the stairs.

Talon sat down with his legs crossed and looked up to the stars. He had been looking at them for a while thinking about what just happened and what was about to happen when a memory came into him.

* * *

_7 years ago, 3 months after Talon was taken into the Du Couteau._

She threw a knife into the dummy that came right throught it's neck and made a backflip while throwing another two knives into other dummies, she flashed into a position to the side of yet another dummy and stabbed it in the armpit, she then turned back and threw another knife, this one collided with the torso of the target and then bounced into other two dummies much to her surprise.

She whipped her hair back and took a long breath of satisfaction while she sat on the table in the middle of the room and began examinating her knife as she recalled what she had just done, her quick growth of skill over the past few years surprised even herself, she was the pride of the household, she was indeed, born under the Du Couteau, a skilled and swift assassin that everyone wanted to be like.

She was interrupted in her thoughts when someone opened the door rather loudly, much to her dislike, everyone in the manor knew how to knock doors politely except for that foolish guy, Talon, what a ridiculous name she thought.

"Surprised to see you are back so soon, street rat, I was expecting you to arrive earlier..." She let out a small laugh before continuing. "... in pieces that is."

"I expected nothing else coming from you Kat." Katarina looked nervously away from him, she hated whenever people called her "Kat", she considered it an insult and she knew Talon called her that on purpose to set her up. "Either way, your father told me to help you practice, to sharpen your own blades he said." He began looking around seeing the work she had done before he had arrived, he examined one of the dummies and saw a throwing knife in one of them and very little holes on other two "_One thrown knife, three dummies hit, I'm impressed."_

"You, _aid_ me in my training ?" She laughed rather loudly this time, she was amused her father would think he could best her. "Let's see what you got then street rat." She said this as she drew her knife and looked at him like a vampire on the hunt.

"Thought you would never ask, _brat_." said Talon. He had never called her this before, although he liked how it sounded. They closed in on each other and looked at one another in the eye, he saw her green emerald eyes filled with ambition while she saw his red eyes filled with cockyness and fresh blood.

She went for a kick in his face that would knock her back into a backflip but he blocked it with his giant blade, giving her a even bigger knockback, she threw a pair of blades aiming into his torso but he sidestepped one of them and took one of them and threw it back at her, aiming for her shoulder. She dodged it with ease, knowing the time he had, Talon jumped into the wall and gave himself impulse to jump straight to Katarina, with this, she flashed right behind and tried to stab him in the waist. Talon quickly reacted and gave her a big hit in her own knife, causing her arm to go loose. She got nervous and tried to defend herself and drew another dagger and hoped to block another one of his strikes but this one instead went right to her wrist and made a big cut that almost reached her elbow.

She screamed and jumped backwards, she examinated her arm and saw blood coming out of it, she took a bit of it into her own hand and drank it like it was the sweetest thing she ever tasted, they locked blades once more, and challenged each other's strenght, a duel in which Talon obviously won, he knocked her down and threw a blade right next to her hand, this one actually hit wrist cloth, and imobilized her left arm. With this, he chuckled and laid himself on the wall, clearly showing his dominance over her in this duel.

This time the door was opened even more loudly and came a figure he knew best in the entire manor, it was her father, Marcus Du Couteau, behind him were Cassiopeia and a servant. He looked at then with a rather worried tone, it wasn't the best situation having someone's father seeing you alone in a room with his daughter imobilized in an arm while bleeding from the other.

"You two again? You've got to be kidding me, Talon !" He ran to Katarina and got the knife out of the cloth that imobilized her, and went straight with her to the servant and said with a low voice : "Just take her to the infirmary." With this, she and the servant left while Cassiopeia looked at Talon for a few moments with a scared face before going away with her sister and the servant.

Marcus looked at Talon with a heavy face of disapproval and said "We're gonna talk about this later, little man." He closed the door heavily and left Talon there by himself. He grunted loudly and said to himself "Now that's more trouble I'll have to deal with..." He grabbed a few of his knives and started training.

* * *

_- /- / -_

_Author's Note_

This is where the fun begins ( there's no plot line actually sorry ) next chapter will be Cassiopeia ! Please comment and give any opinion that would improve me as a writter !


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